MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

NORTH CAPE TOURS – TRIPS TO NORWAY

FINNMARK

Finnmark is the largest (48,618 km²) and also the least populated county of Norway, situated in the north-eastern part of the country. The first people settled here ten thousand years ago. The number of inhabitants is approximately 73 thousand nowadays. The capital of the province is Vadsø although the biggest town is Alta. The towns of Finnmark were almost completely destroyed by the German army during their retreat. This way they tried to stop the offensive of the Red Army at the end of World War II. The province is a kind of melting pot of Lappish, Finnish, Russian and Norwegian cultures.

SÁPMI

The name of the cultural region traditionally being settled by the Sami people. The region stretches from the central part of the Scandinavian Peninsula to the Kola Peninsula and is divided between four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.

THE SAMI PEOPLE

The Sami people (The Lapps) are descendants of nomadic people who inhabited Fennoscandia 10 thousand years ago before the arriving of the Indo-European tribes. They speak Sami languages belonging to the Finno-Ugric language family. The Sami people are not related to the other Scandinavian nations and are the only indigenous people of Scandinavia recognized and protected under the international conventions of indigenous peoples. The ‘Lapp’ word probably comes from the Swedish term for a patch what may imply its pejorative meaning. That is why today’s commonly used term is ‘Sami people’.

Walking tour (11 km) to the Sautso Canyon

KAUTOKEINO (KIRKE) CHURCH

Kautokeino (Kirke) church was designed by Norwegian architect Finn Bryn. It was built in 1958. The previous church dating back to the eighteenth century functioned on the same spot until it was burnt by the Germans at the end of World War II. It is an interesting example of religious architecture combining tradition with modernity.

KAUTOKEINO BYGDETUN MUSEUM

Kautokeino Bygdetun Museum presents reconstructions of buildings that were typical to Kautokeino more than 100 years ago. Visitors can see Sami huts (lavvo) for reindeer herders and wooden ecclesiastical hut dating back to the mid-eighteenth century.

SÁMEDIGGI

Sami Parliament of Norway based in Karasjok – the representative body for the Sami community in Norway mainly aiming at protecting Sami culture and traditions. 39 members are elected in seven constituencies covering all of Norway every five years.

KARASJOK GAMLE KIRKE

Karasjok gamle kirke – Lutheran church built in 1807. This is the oldest building in Finnmark and the only one that survived in Karasjok during World War II.

HONNINGSVÅG

It’s the northernmost located city in Europe. The climate in Honningsvåg is unusually mild due to the influence of warm waters of the Gulf Stream causing that temperatures are much higher than in other parts of the world at the same latitude.

STRUVE GEODETIC ARC

This is a chain of survey triangulations used to measure the exact shape and size of the Earth. It stretches from Hammerfest to Izmail through the territory of ten countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. Its length is almost 2822 km. It is a set of 265 main measuring points. The chain was established in the Russian Empire and the former union of Sweden and Norway between 1816 and 1852. The initiator of the project was the Russian astronomer Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve. The Struve Geodetic Arc was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005.

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